Thursday, August 22, 2013

Instagram used to return an owners lost phone

One of those rare stories that end with a happy ending when it comes to losing a phone, especially an iPhone

Well, despite the promise of healthy black market sums for lost/stolen devices, not every misplaced smartphone winds up on Craigslist. Normally this kind of story would have an outcome where the original owner never finds their lost phone. But this definitely isn’t normal, and the way the lost handset was retrieved will bring a huge smile to your face.

According to Kimchi Ho, who wrote about the entire ordeal on her blog (which is down thanks to the Reddit wave), her and her friend were out one afternoon riding bikes when the phone was accidentally left behind. Unfortunately for Kimchi and her friend, they didn’t realize the phone had been lost until a few hours later, by which time it could’ve been anywhere. And if found by the wrong person, they would’ve never seen it again.

But they did see it again, and almost immediately found the phone’s location, not through tracking software, but through Instagram. Apparently, the phone had been left behind at a nearby skate park, and was discovered by a group of kids. Rather than keeping the device for themselves, and possibly selling it for a nice little sum, the kids posted a video on the owner’s Instagram, informing her where the device had been found.

Once they realized where the device was, they called the kids up and retrieved it no problem. “No harm done to the phone, they just wanted to give it back to its rightful owner!” Kimchi said. There are so many reports out there about smartphone theft and lost devices that we tend to get jaded about the issue. But it’s nice to see that there’s always a more positive side, and not all lost devices are turned for profit. See? Social networking can be used for good, too.